Combined studio couch and bed



1951 A. NICASSIO 2,997,723

COMBINED STUDIO COUCH AND BED Filed 001;. 5, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I I {III B I I I I i! I g J 1 MTTOEA/E).

1961 A. NICASSIO 2,997,723

COMBINED STUDIO COUCH AND BED Filed Oct. 5, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 .3 E60 40 I r z 22 n I10. .5; U 28 I. 35 i b 2/ /6 i m h Hi I 7 7 t I /6 29 3/ I h ///a Sa E 34 9 L IN V EN TOR.

ii 'b United States Fatent 2,997,723 COMBINED STUDIO COUCH AND BED Angelo Nicassio, Alhambra, Calif. (2478 Fletcher Ave., Los Angeles 39, Calif.) Filed Oct. 5, 1959, Ser. No. 844,446 4 Claims. (Cl. -2)

My invention relates generally to an article of furniture, and more particularly to :a lounge or studio couch that may be easily and quickly converted for use as a bed, and which is also adapted to be used as a dual lounge or couch, a single or a double bed.

Hotels, motels, tourist cabins, liner staterooms, and even private residences, and other places of restricted bedroom-sitting room accommodations, often times require an article of furniture which may serve as an occasional and sitting room article, and which may be easily and quickly converted into sleeping accommodations, providing either a single bed, a pair of twin beds, or a double bed.

It is conceded that structures to accomplish the above purposes have been built in the past, but they have not been entirely successful for many reasons, some of which are: excessive cost of, and complication of parts in, construction and in adaptation for its several uses; appearance, comfortboth when in use as a couch and as a bedand difliculties of operation, especially by maids and housewives.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel article of furniture of the class described which is particularly unique in its appearance and operation and tends to reduce to a minimum the objectionable difliculties encountered by previous structures of like character.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel studio-type swing'a-way bed that has relatively few and inexpensive structural parts; and which provides a maximum of comfort when used either as a couch or as a bed; and which may be easily and quickly assembled and disassembled, and moved to attain the desired placement or position for intended use as a couch, single, twin or double bed.

Still another object is to provide a novel structure of the class described which may be efiiciently associated with, and pivotally connected to, a single end table unit in such a manner that the entire assembly will present a highly modern appearance; and the article when used as a studio couch willhave a normal heighth for seating purposes.

A still further object is to provide a novel structure of the class described and in which the head boards of the bed structure are rigidly connected to the bed frame; and further whereby the bed frame is pivotally connected directly to the frame of the table unit in such manner as to provide an inexpensive construction that is extremely sturdy, and in which the pivotal connection is practically hidden from view in any positionment of the combined couch or bed units.

The invention resides in theparts and combination and arrangement of the parts, as more fully hereinafter described in detail.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention may appear from the accompanying drawings, the subjoined detail description, and the appended claims.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention in a form I at present deem preferable.

FIGURE 1 is a perspective elevational view of a combined studio couch and bed embodying the invention, the unit shown being a pair of combination studio couch beds associated with an end table unit, and in open positionv for studio couch or daytime use.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view on slightly larger scale of the article of FIG. 1 in closed position preparatory to the making up of a double-bed, the left hand couch member of FIG. 1 being moved from its previous dot and dash line position to full line position alongside of the right hand couch member, the top of the end table unit being partially broken away to disclose structure that would otherwise be hidden from view.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the base member of the box spring element used in the structure of my invention.

FIG. 4 is a fragmented end elevational View, on enlarged scale, and taken on a plane indicated by line 4-4, FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a partial plan view taken on line 5-5, FIG. 4, the box spring and mattress having been removed.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged elevational section taken on line 6-6, FIG. 2, and with the mattress removed.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged elevational sectional view taken on line 7-7, FIG. 5, illustrating the pivotal connection.-

Referring first to FIG. 1, the article of furniture A comprises broadly a relatively stationary corner member B in the form of an end table, to the frame of which a pair of twin bed units C are pivotally connected at adjacent corners D of each thereof.

The frame 1 of member B is preferably constructed of L-shaped angle iron but has corner posts 2 (see FIG. 4) that form legs or supports for the table top 3 which preferably projects outwardly around and beyond the outer perimeter of the top frame 4, as at 5. Spaced vertically beneath the top frame 4 are generally parallel, intermediate side members 34, 35 (FIGS. 4-5) having their outer ends afiixed to the respective upright leg 7.

The corner 6 of member B that lies diagonally opposite the corner of member B which is normally positioned in the corner of the room in which the article A is used, is preferably formed of two upright supports or legs 7 spaced inwardly a short distance from the normal corner of said member B. The legs 7 are connected at their upper ends to the top frame 4 and their lower ends held in rigid spaced relationship with each other by means of a strap member 8 to which a horizontal pivot member 9 is fixed (as by welding) and which extends or projects slightly beyond the normal or projected corner of the member B at corner 6. An upstanding pivot 10 in the form of a dog-point bolt 11 is detachably secured to the member 9 by the bolt 11 being threaded as at 12 into member 9 and the dog-point 13 thereof extending upwardly in a vertical plane to form a pivot pin that is positioned approximately at the true corner of the outer surface of table top 3 at the corner 6.

The twin bed units C are of more or less conventional internal structure and include an inner spring mattress member 14 and a box spring member 15 which rests upon a rectangular supporting frame 16 preferably formed of L-shaped angle iron.

A strut member 17 is secured to the underside of each frame 16 and extends outwardly therefrom and is provided with a pivot bearing 18 to receive the dog point 13 and thereby effect pivotal interconnection between the stationary corner member B and the bed or studio-couch structure C. One of the strut members 17 is bent as at 1% to overlie the associated strut member 17 when engaging the dog point 13.

The strut members 17, '17 are preferably of an arcuate shape, as shown in FIG. 5, so as to be substantially hidden from view when the beds are moved to either open or close positions.

Headboards 20 are detachably secured to each frame 16, adjacent the corner member B, by bolt and nut means 21 which securely connect said headboards 24 to arms 22 that are preferably welded to and extend upwardly 7 from the frame 16.

thickness, so that when the beds are moved to open position the outer surface of the headboards 20 will lie flush with the associated outer perimeter of the end table B; and will also lie underneath that portion 5 of the table top 3 which projects beyond the top frame 4; and thereby securely hold the end table B and bed structures C together against accidental separation of the pivotal connections therebetween. Thus, it will be seen from FIGS. 2 and 4, that the bed frame 16 (with headboard 20 secured thereto) cannot be raised so as to disengage the strut members 17, 17 from the pivot 10, because of contact with the overhanging edge 5 of the table top 3 that is fixed to the top frame 4 by any suitable means, not shown.

The bed supporting frame 16 is provided at its head end with a pair of rollers 23, and is also provided at the foot end thereof with a pair of rollers 24, the rotary axis of which is aligned with a radius drawn through the axis of the pivot 10 to permit ease of swinging the beds to and from open to closed positions, and vice-versa. A strap member is extended across the foot portion of the bed frame 16 to provide a support with frame end member 16 for the saddle 26 of the roller members 24.

The box spring member 15 comprises a frame member 27 and coil spring 28 supporting slats or boards 29 extend transversely of frame member 27 and a longitudinally extending member 29' (at each side of frame member 27) rests directly upon the upstanding leg 30 of the side rails of the L-shaped angle iron, supporting frame 16. Spacing rails 31 are secured to the underside of member 29' and are positioned inside the leg 30 of the side rails 16' of frame 16 and prevent lateral shifting of box spring member 15 relative to the frame 16, and space the upright outer upholstering receiving frame member 27a from contact with the frame 16, and thereby also prevent the covering material 32 from coming into contact with the frame 16 and thus eliminate wear of such material 32 which would otherwise likely occur.

The end member 27 of the box spring frame member 27 abuts against and aids in maintaining the rails 31 spaced apart; and leaves the space between rails 31 and member 27a open as at 33 to permit the box spring member 15 to receive the upstanding leg 30 of the side rails of frame 16, and permit box spring member 15 to be slid along the frame 16. to assembled position, or to be slid along frame member 15 when separating the member 15 from the frame 16.

If it is desired to separate the twin bed structures C from the stationary pivot or another post, illustrated as the end table B, it is only necessary to remove the pivot 10 by merely unscrewing the dog-point bolt 11 from the projecting pivot member 9; and the beds C are likewise securely and pivotally connected to the stationary member by alignment of the pivot bearing 18 with the threaded opening 12 of member 9 and threading the bolt 11 thereinto.

It will be apparent that only one single bed unit C may be associated with the end table B, if so desired, instead of the twin bed structures C as illustrated.

By the pivotal arrangement and connection of the bed frame to the stationary pivot, as shown, I have obtained a very sturdy construction, and one in which ease of operation is extremely great, and stresses on the pivotal connection are reduced to a minimum.

Bedding (not shown) may be kept in the end table, the interior of which is accessible when either couch is swung from the position shown in FIG. 1 to that shown in FIG. 2.

I claim:

1. An article of the character described comprising, in combination: a table structure adapted to be located on the floor in the corner of a room with two sides thereof respectively adjacent the upstanding walls of said corner, said structure including a frame comprising a pair of generally horizontal side members extending convergingly outward from the respective side walls of the room toward a forward vertical corner line of the structure disposed outward from said room corner, and a top surface of said structure extending to said corner line and horizontally projecting beyond each side member with an overhanging edge generally parallel to the respective side member therebeneath; an adjacent pair of upright posts each secured respectively adjacent the forward end of one of said side members at a point spaced laterally therealong from said corner line, and an upstanding pivot member supported jointly by and between said connected posts in substantial vertical alignment with the overlying corner area of the table top thereabove; and a similar pair of generally rectangular, horizontal, bed-supporting frames carried by dependent floor-supported rollers, each bed frame having a vertical headboard swingingly receivable beneath an overhanging edge of said table so as to align the same in housed position, each bed frame being provided with a vertically apertured strut extending toward the corner line of said table and adapted to be detachably mounted on said pivot member in vertically spaced relation, whereby the pair of bed frames may be rolled together from said housed position so as to lie side by side and in any position said head boards substantially conceal the pivot member within the table structure.

2. The article of the preceding claim 1 wherein said table structure additionally contains a pair of generally horizontal, intermediate side members generally parallel to and spaced below the respective first mentioned side members, and each of said head boards carries at least one upstanding arm along its table-adjacent face, the top of which arm is receivable beneath the corresponding in termediate side member when the respective bed frame is in housed position.

3. The article of the preceding claim 1 wherein said pivot member is essentially a removable, headed bolt having a screw portion receivable in a threaded aperture of a cross piece disposed between said posts, and a terminal portion slidably insertable through said apcrtured struts.

4. In an article of the character described comprising a table structure having at least four sides and adapted to be located on the floor of a room with two sides thereof disposed respectively adjacent the upstanding wall of a corner of the room, and a pair of generally rectangular, horizontal, bed-supporting frames carried by dependent floor-supported rollers with each bed frame having a vertical head board disposed edge to edge along a common vertical, forward projecting corner line of the table and receivable beneath said overlying corner, each head board being movable jointly with its bed frame along the axis of said corner line between an outswung position wherein said bed frames lie side by side and a housed position wherein the rear vertical surface of each head board is disposed in abutment with a side element of said table, the improvement comprising in combination therewith; an adjacent pair of upright table-supporting posts each secured respectively along a side thereof spaced from said forward projecting corner line, an upstanding pivot member supported jointly by and between said posts adjacent the floor in substantial vertical alignment with the overlying corner area of said table, and means for detachably securing each bed frame to said pivot member whereby the adjacent vertical edges of said head boards are functionally located along said projecting corner line forward of said posts and in swinging contact with the underface of said overlying table corner.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS (Other references on following page) 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS Ziegenfuss Jan. 24, 1950 Fox Sept. 26, 1950 Frey July 15, 1952 Blanke Feb. 14, 195 6 Andes Feb. 19, 1957 6 Ziegenfuss Sept. 17, 1957 Laquinta May 19, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Sept. 23, 1959 

